Bulletin challenge returns

Friday

Aug 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMAug 31, 2007 at 4:01 AM

Ned Higgins is oozing with confidence. The 20-year-old, who beat Tony Farmer by .09 points, or two yards, in the championship game of the inaugural Norwich Bulletin Fantasy Football Challenge, is pleased with this season’s roster.

Norwich Bulletin

Ned Higgins is oozing with confidence. The 20-year-old, who beat Tony Farmer by .09 points, or two yards, in the championship game of the inaugural Norwich Bulletin Fantasy Football Challenge, is pleased with this season’s roster.

“My team will go undefeated, put it in print,” the Woodstock resident told the rest of the league online.

Higgins built his team around Larry Johnson, Matt Leinart and a star-studded core of receivers.

“I can honestly say,” Higgins said, ‘that I think I’ve got the strongest receiving corp in the league with three bona-fide No. 1 receivers in Steve Smith, Andre Johnson and Plaxico Burress.”

Higgins’ first test of the season will be a rematch against Farmer in the Week 1 Game of the Week.

Three other teams from last season are back as well. Joe Truman, who now shares his team with his brother, Chris, returns along with Don Benjamin and the duo of Stan Sims Sr. and Jr.

Norwich’s Benjamin is cautiously optimistic after a season in which he had more injuries than a class-action suit. Perhaps by design, Benjamin drafted several durable players this season as his first three picks (Joseph Addai, Thomas Jones, and Roy Williams) were players who didn’t miss a game last season.

The Sims duo selected Peyton Manning with the 10th overall selection and then grabbed Willis McGahee with pick No. 15 after Willie Parker, Rudi Johnson, and Travis Henry were selected. Their best selection may have come much later in the draft, however.

“(Our) best pick? Drew Bennett in the 10th round,” the elder Sims said, “because with the Rams’ high-powered offense and Marc Bulger as QB, we think there will be a lot of red zone opportunity.”

Joe Truman handed the reins over to Chris on draft day and it may have paid off. The team parlayed its No. 7 overall pick into one of the league’s best teams on paper. Chris selected Shaun Alexander, Carson Palmer, Reggie Wayne and Javon Walker with his first four selections.

New contenders

One of the reasons Alexander was still on the board was because Colchester’s Laura Steinmeyer selected Reggie Bush with the fourth overall pick. Steinmeyer followed that selection with Edgerrin James, Torry Holt, Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss and Phillip Rivers.

Lisbon’s Chris Fabry took an interesting draft approach as he selected three running backs, three wide receivers and a tight end before taking quarterback Vince Young in the eighth round.

“I wasn’t happy with my Vince Young pick,” Fabry said. “I froze because I was all set to grab Donte Stallworth and than he was taken right before me. (A round later) because I wasn’t happy with that, (I) grabbed Eli (Manning) and then asked myself ‘What the hell am I doing?’ ”

WXLM’s Lee Elci made the most of his 11th and 14th overall selections grabbing Willie Parker and Marc Bulger. Elci plucked Atlanta quarterback Joey Harrington in the 17th round and that’s looking like a steal after Harrington’s performance last weekend.
The Bully Boys team, operated by Norwich Bulletin sports staff other than Tony Farmer, will use Brian Westbrook, Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald as the backbone of its squad.

The Bully Boys also snared Packers running back Brandon Jackson in the seventh round and added teammate Brett Favre two rounds later.

MVP Sports Bar benefited from the No. 2 overall pick and will be rooting for Stephen Jackson and Marvin Harrison, Clinton Portis and Donovan McNabb this season.

Tony Gonzalez (fifth round), Julius Jones (seventh round), and San Diego Defense (eighth round) will also need to come up big for the Norwich-based establishment.

Toby Stanley was the lucky recipient of the No. 1 overall pick and the proud owner of LaDanian Tomlinson. The Killingly resident will complement Tomlinson with Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Marshawn Lynch and Jay Cutler.

On the other end of the spectrum was Pomfret’s Aaron May, who picked last and immediately went with two running backs (Rudi Johnson and Travis Henry). May got a great value in the 15th round with Byron Leftwich and three rounds earlier with Wes Welker.

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